I loved this book. It made me feel nostalgic and homesick for the place I actually live and work in, which is no mean feat!

Maconie is unashamedly prejudiced about his love for the North, but his humour and "warts and all" approach saves him from being bigoted or boorish.
I spent the middle third of my life as an economic migrant to The South, which has many attractions, but home is where the pies and gravy are 🤎🥧🤎 and coming home is a decision we've never regretted.

I was surprised by how bookish Stuart is, and his references to his literary favourites was endearing. He also has me hankering for a quiet pub corner where I can nurse a pint for an hour over a book, though in reality I usually find pubs too noisy and distracting an environment, so, again, a testament to his ability to evoke a mood.
A delightful surprise of a 5⭐ read. ( )

Another good book from Maconie. Interesting trawl around the north ( )

Stuart Maconie's writing is excellent, he makes me laugh and think and this is a marvellous gift. He tells me things about the north I didn't know and reminds me of places I have enjoyed visiting. He strings together wonderful stories of day trips and visits and does this very well. ( )

Read about 100 pages of it. Too many colloquialisms, too much about soccer and rock music from the 1980s and 1990s.

Maconie is a columnist, radio personality and travel writer from the Northern town of Wigan. In this book he travels from his adopted home of London, in the South, to all places North. He goes to inland towns and villages and along much of the Northern coast, stopping at lots of apparently ugly places filled with rude people, but he does like a couple of places and more importantly, he imparts information, like why people in Newcastle are called "Geordies" and why Liverpool and Manchester put so much effort into football rivalry.
I've read another by Maconie, Adventures on the High Teas: In Search of Middle England and liked that one a little more, probably because it included a lot more music history, but this was a good one. ( )